


The Apparition of the Paper Lanterns

by venomhwa



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Ancestors, Chinese Mythology & Folklore, Ghosts, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Underworld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:14:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24003406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/venomhwa/pseuds/venomhwa
Summary: The fifteenth of the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar marked the anticipated Ghost Day, a fruitless chance for spirits to visit Earth once more. Ten, a newly spirit confined in the Underworld, was guided by the thousand-year-old ghost Kun that didn't celebrate the day as most did. And that was how the myth stayed alive.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Qian Kun
Comments: 14
Kudos: 46
Collections: Weishen Fest: ANYTHING BUT HUMAN





	The Apparition of the Paper Lanterns

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome ghostly friends! This is my entry for the Weishen Fest Round Two: ANYTHING BUT HUMAN! I'm super excited to put this out as it's my first time participating in a Fic Fest and writing for this fandom! Hope you guys like it!

For some, it was a mirage. For others, an old baseless story improvised by the unfathomable mouths that passed the story through their bloodline. But for the ones that released the paper lanterns, it was real. After the sun had set on the horizon, the villagers gathered by the lake to light up lanterns and let them float away in a way to communicate with their ancestors. For a thousand years, one lonely lantern could be seen from afar before the villagers released theirs. The apparition of the Paper Lanterns was the village’s miracle of every Ghost Festival. 

Ten couldn’t remember anything. One second he was practicing his calligraphy, the other he was dead, in a different realm, surrounded by ghosts and spirits as if they were expecting his coming. At first, he didn’t comprehend what had happened but it all made sense upon looking at his diaphanous body, a smoke-like consistency keeping him floating, greenish hue emanating from his core. 

“Neophyte!” Another ghost got closer, his core a different shade of green, emerald to be exact. His facial features were faded from time but he still resembled his living ones, despite being a thousand years old dead. Ten couldn’t know how disfigured he looked but some other ghosts in the room had more precise characteristics. It made him wonder how he looked. “Welcome to the Underworld! I’m Kun!”

Just like that, Ten was welcomed into that dark realm, where ghosts, spirits, and other supernatural beings roamed around after their fall. He’d hang out mostly with Kun, which turned out to be his partner in the afterlife as it usually happened. Spirits had a partner with which they shared a special connection. Even if Kun was as cheerful as ever, he grieved the vanish of his old partner, which suffered his second death, a normal occurrence for old ghosts. And with old, it’s meant to be thousands of years old. At least that was the information in the book Kun gave Ten upon explaining every little aspect of his new home. 

The book had all the rules that a spirit needed to follow or else they would risk being sent to a lower stratum of the underworld. Death in that realm was good enough, there was no reason to risk anything and be sent to eternal punishment. Ten was never one to question rules or roles, so it was natural for him to go through the book and realize how connected the world was with the occult. Just as the world was ruled by the Confucianists and traditional Chinese values, the underworld was too. There were them, souls that didn’t make it to heaven, in the highest stratum of the Chinese hell. 

At first, Ten wasn't capable of processing how he had passed, how he had left everything behind to this new bodiless existence that seemed so liminal every time he looked at Kun and noticed yet another detail of his face that had faded away with the time. He had been looking at Kun a lot, just as much as Kun looked at him. Over the months their ghostly hues mixed between fantasy books, stories of their lives and deaths, and endless roaming. There was so much Kun knew and so much Ten wanted to learn. 

The fifteenth of the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar was rapidly approaching and one could feel the excitement buzzing in the underworld. While the seventh month was the Ghost Month, in which humans dedicated to complete the duty of filial piety to their ancestors, the fifteenth was Ghost Day. The living organized a festival to celebrate their deceased ancestors and pay homage to their souls. It’s believed that spirits and ghosts return to earth to visit their relatives on that day and every ghost was absolutely ecstatic to go back. Some spend the time with their living relatives as they prepare everything for the strict rituals, others that have no living family wander around.

“What are you going to do when we go back?” Kun asked after a long-strained stretch of reticence. 

“I… What are you going to do?” 

“I don’t have a living family to perform the rituals so I’ll just...stroll around…” Ten nodded, even if Kun’s tone didn’t feel right. “I assume you’re going to spend the day with your family?”

“Oh! Hm…” Pausing, there was a moment Ten tried to find an answer for that, one that didn’t seem too grim. “They don’t like me. I guess it was relieving that I passed.”

“... I’m sure that’s not true.”

“Either way, I don’t have any family to do the rituals for me. So I guess I will stroll around with you. Wait, is that allowed? I didn’t see anything about it in the Book of Rules.” Months wasn’t enough to surpass his past life.

“Because it isn’t.” The tone was too calm for the blasphemy coming out of his ghostly lips. 

“What?” Ten exclaimed, making Kun jump. 

“Look, a lot of ghosts ignore the worshipping and seize the opportunity to connect once more with the living world. Yes, there’s a rules' book but honestly, we’re ghosts. Why are there rules?”

Ten could give 5 reasons why the rules should be followed but did it really matter? They’re ghosts. And the book is a bunch of sheets glued to a hardcover. 

“So what are we supposed to do?” Ten still had his questions. 

He performed the ceremonies as a human but standing on the other side overdriven his senses. The fifteenth was meant to be spent worshipping but also needed to not anger any spirits, especially the hungry ghosts, that needed it more than anything as they wandered around Earth since the beginning of the month. During that day, humans offered their ancestors food three times a day, burned incense next to their family members' tablets, kowtowed, and talked with them. Feasting happened at night after all the ceremonies, specifically the release of the paper lanterns. Everything made sense for a human, but for a ghost what was there to do, Ten wondered.

“Oh, you just visit your family and listen to them as they talk to you. It’s all part of the ritual but I’m sure you know that since you did it too when you were alive, right?” Xiaojun explained with a toothy smile, Yangyang by his side. They had been partners for hundreds of years and close friends of Kun. Over the few months in the underworld, Ten grew closer together with the couple.

“And you watch the performances they do. Humans specifically leave the front row of the audience empty for us to sit there and watch. Our families have always been close so we watch them together.” Ten could never admit how jealous he felt of them. They were the cutest couple of the underworld, no other could compete.

“That’s sweet.” Ten could only say with a yellowish smile. “And what happens if we go against the rules? I asked Kun but he didn’t tell me.”

“Those are in the hidden pages of the book. I guess fledglings don’t know unless they are told about them. Maybe Kun didn’t want to scare you.”

“Why would I be scared? Are we not supposed to know about these pages?” That alarmed Ten.

“I mean… I don’t know. We never got a proper explanation for these things. It’s just a book. With rules and secrets. And the hidden pages talk about the punishments if you don’t follow along.” 

“And what are the punishments? I just need to know to be aware of what I’m betting if I break the rules.” Xiaojun widened his eyes. “Not that… I’m thinking of doing it.”

“But with Kun, you are bound to break them.” Yangyang made a very pertinent point. Ten’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s better if we do not tell you.”

“Just remember,” Xiaojun looked so serious, Ten couldn’t help but be scared. “Even if you break the rules with Kun, you won’t get hurt.”

The day arrived. It was a blazing summer day, the seventh month was always hot but that didn’t stop the living from completing the worshipping rituals. There was a duty to fulfill after all. 

The gates of hell opened once more and the supernatural wanderers were free for the esteemed day. The first time was always very exciting, or it would be if you were a ghost adored by your family. Spending time with your family in the afterlife, such a thin and strong barrier between death and life separating each other hurt but was also a relief for many. Newer ghosts never abdicated their precious time to be with their family but it was different for Kun. And Ten too, since his family refused to perform any type of ritual to pay tribute to his soul. 

“So, what do we do now?” Ten and Kun had just arrived on earth. Both could recognize the green glade of the woods next to their village. Ghosts would always spawn at a certain distance to their place of birth. Despite having a thousand years separating them, their connection was in that glade.

“We ruin the rituals.”

People had begun gathering at dawn in the village’s center to prepare for the Festival, it was a huge deal, after all. When Kun and Ten got there, there were already ghosts with their families as they prepared the food to sacrifice to their ancestors. 

Ten didn’t understand Kun’s motives but regardless, not being able to be seen gave him a sense of courage and utter mischief. At first, he felt hesitant to misbehave and so conscious of his incorporeal existence but he trusted Kun enough to let himself go and steal, misplace food and incense, ruin the decorations and hide the paper lanterns and joss paper. Nothing that humans couldn’t solve but still enough to delay celebrations. Ten had never been a troublemaker but his evil part of himself was starting to awaken with every incense stick he threw to oblivion. 

Was being evil a part of a ghost? From all the spirits he had met, their evil sides were clearly there but Kun’s just seemed mischievous, a troublemaker at most. Xiaojun and YangYang also didn’t seem naturally evil, almost as if their evil was born after death. Even if you’re inherently a good person, you can end up in the underworld and be consumed by what you fear the most: the Evil. 

After a few more tampering incidents, the sun was setting and the performances were about to start. Kun always missed them. 

“Let’s get out of here.” He didn’t leave any moment for Ten to process before he flew away from the festival. Ten followed behind, no questions asked. Floating to the East, they were approaching a huge lake that separated their village from another. It was like that during Kun’s life and so many years later, it still was there. When Kun was alive, he'd spend his days around, in the summer, bathing, in the winters, playing on the thin ice that most of the time broke with his weight. In the spring, he would collect yellow chrysanthemums, releasing them in the lake, and watch them floating away from his sight like he saw his years gone by. During the fall, he’d observe the frogs and toads jump across water lilies, bathing in the warmth that was about to disappear. And that was how many seasons were spent for Kun. Ten would come to the lake too but always to swim and spend time with his friends and lovers, treasuring it as the safe space it was.

“What are we doing here?” Ten asked curiously as they stopped by the shore. The sun was setting at an incredible speed that none of them were used to as the concept of day and night in the underworld didn’t exist. The sun bid his goodbyes with its summer-like dazzling reflections through the translucent water. Ten had forgotten how mesmerizing the sun was, he missed its sentiment on his skin, the heat easing his head down, closing his eyes and letting negative colored shadows dance in his closed vision.

“Look at this.” Searching on his left loose sleeve from his _Hanfu_ , Kun took two paper lanterns out, matches, and two incense sticks. “I stole some as I usually do every year.”

“Oh.” The youngest ghost observed as the objects floated by Kun’s fleeting command. “Why, may I ask?” At that, Kun smiled sadly, as if missing something. Ten felt his non-existent heart clenching at the sight. 

“I figured I could do a ritual for my family, like the old times. The living ones.” That made Ten speechless. “Don’t you have ancestors that you worshipped willingly? Not just because of some Confucian social pressure? Or Daoist or whatever.” 

“I… actually do.” Images of his grandfather played in Ten’s mind, the man that truly loved him during his living years. He was curious about who Kun wanted to worship but decided to leave it for later. 

The sun had just set when they lighted the sticks and watched them burn slowly, calmly, thinking about their ancestors in silence. There was a lot of silence between them, a comfortable one. Kun was used to it and Ten grew accustomed. They sat on the grass, legs dangling inside the water without disturbing it and Ten wished that it did in order to feel the mildly warm water drops slowly racing back to the lake from his legs. He also wished he could smell the burning scent of the incense as it was nostalgic for his childhood memories.

“Why is my incense burning faster than yours?” Ten asked curiously as he compared the burning process. Kun had put his hand over Ten’s some time ago, none of them could tell when it happened since it was something natural by then. It felt good, just like home. Kun never had felt like this with the past partner of his afterlife. Xiaojun also shared a special bond with Yangyang, the more time he spent with Ten, the more he was sure their bonds were the same.

“Because I lighted yours first. Should have stolen more.” Kun exhaled even if there was no need to breathe. There were little things that remained from life, Ten noticed.

“No, people need it more than us.” The youngest commented as he stared at his incense slowly burning away like life did. “Say… Who are you worshipping?”

“My children.” Ten stilled. “My family suffered a tragedy twenty years after my parting. There was a fire and to this day I don’t know who was the arsonist but it could be walking among us in our realm.” 

“I’m so sorry…” The oldest ghost’s expression grew colder with every word professed shoulders dropping and his grip on the incense stick getting loose. Ten didn’t watch his stick fall, grabbing it by the burning side, handling it back to Kun’s hand. Kun opens his mouth but no words come out with the shock. Ten accidentally put out the flame so he relighted it with his own stick, silence once again reigning before Kun could speak, still dumbfounded.

“A thousand years have passed and every year I ruin others' worship because I can’t have them for my own. Then, I do the rituals alone, by this lake for my descendants. Confucianism doesn’t work like this but my descendants deserve this as much as my ancestors.” 

“That’s actually very thoughtful of you, Even if you mess up the others'.” That set the mood for laughs until the incense burned to the end. 

“What about you?”

“My grandfather. My family never fulfilled their duty of worship to him as he wasn’t from our bloodline. Even if I didn’t have his blood, I feel closer to him than any person from my family, and blood doesn’t mean anything. So I lighted this incense for him and him only.” They could hear traditional music play from the village. Ten missed deeply the beautiful sound of the cords of _Pipa_. 

“Wherever your grandfather is I’m sure he is happy with a grandson like you.” Kun reassured him, hand traveling to Ten’s hair to pat him, the latter didn’t even realize he gave in the touch without a second thought. “Let’s light up the lanterns? The villagers are about to come here to release theirs.” 

In a flash they prepared the lanterns to light up, releasing them above the crystalline water and watching them fly away, drifting in the wind to illuminate other paths for those that still had a chance to follow the light.

That’s when it clicked in Ten’s mind. The Paper Lantern Myth was unveiled.

“Have you ever fallen in love?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
